I don't move in the more glittery layers of the blogospheres, so rarely (ever?) am I tagged for memes. Which is probably for the best, since for some unknown reason I feel the word should be pronounced MEHM and not MEEM. However, I bow to the authority of Merriam-Webster's pronunciation, but only because they explain that the real (or "real") word is mimeme, although one has to wonder at that, given that they don't have an entry for it.

MEEM does phonetically fit the me-me-me aspect of memes, and I'm all for the me-me-me (or the you-you-you, when you're hosting the blog party), so I'm appeased.

All this talk of memes is courtesy of Scary Shari, who recently tagged me to do the Four Things meme. Because Scary Shari is cool, and because our relationship demonstrates that Sharis who pronounce their names differently (each with a publicly stated personal aversion to being called by the other's style, no less) can get along, despite a lifetime of experiences (on my part, anyway) to the contrary, and because it's the Sunday before the start of a new academic quarter and I must seek out any activity other than devising lesson plans for the next nine weeks in 3.5 different subjects, and because tying myself to the computer seems to be the only way to avoid buying Hamster #17... here we go!

read many more books than I find time to read now, but no more Joe Queenan books since he's the first writer where, despite highly enjoying his style and subject matter, I just can't seem to stomach his method of ripping into everything well beyond the point of having fun or making meaningful commentary - what a disappointment

pick up my Irish studies wherever I left off and advance to the point of being able to hold non-embarrassing conversations with the people who email me when they find my Irish pages, which seem to have disappeared in last month's server crash, thank you Typepad and your previously crappy system of apparently only backing up static data every few months

design an energy-efficient and stylish teleportation mechanism for easy trips to far away places what with my butt growing ever less coach-section-friendly every year

die peacefully in my sleep before my teeth rot out but after the hamsters ascend to higher rodent planes - this is why if I keep acquiring hamsters I'm going to have to see about getting at least a couple of wisdom teeth removed

FOUR FAMILY MEMBERS YOU'RE CLOSE TO:

Mike

Mom

Dad

the dead ones I make up stories about in my head (my genealogy site is down this weekend so I won't link - looks like it's time to change servers for that site, too)

FOUR PLACES YOU'VE BEEN ON VACATION:(Since Ireland, Spain, the Yucatan, and Disney are already well-covered on this site, I'll rummage among the remaining dregs.)

Yoder's Cabins somewhere in the wilds of Michigan (two or three summers of scary tethered rafts, begging for moccasins, and finding Polaroids of a young, naked boy that give me far more questions now than they did then)

Gatlinburg and the paths between it, Michigan (the drive there with my parents), and Texas (the drive back with my grandparents), all in the name of the World's Fair

FOUR COSTUMES YOU'VE WORN ON HALLOWEEN:

Spanish dancer

court jester

person in black wearing colourful paper flowers and hippy stickers on her face

punk rocker or some early-80s interpretation thereof that relied heavily on making homemade earrings out of safety pins and wishing my curly hair would spike, damnit

Maple Lane Elementary in Sterling Heights, Michigan (now some sort of admin center for the district, no, wait, it's become a school again)

Romeo Junior High(now a "middle school" - gag - where the principal does not email you back when you write to ask if he can find out the name of the French textbook that was in use circa 1983; if "Monsieur Jean-Claude! Telephone! C'EST UNE JEUNE FILLE!!!" or "Attends, Genevieve, attends!" mean anything to you, please drop a holler)

University of Nevada - Las Vegas(but can this once-upon-a-time summa cum laude princess graduate from there, that's the question)